They're All Brave in the End
by simptasia
Summary: wrote this as a little tribute to the companions ive seen and my fave villian. contorted canon, one-shot, gen, bit violent. I havent actully seen The Doctor's Wife, I just used Idris for my own benifet.


Amy, Rory and the new woman sat silently in the dark surroundings that were once a bright, happy, orange console room. Now a non-functioning combination of what once was and what was going to be.

They were probably never going to fly again. Or demat or whatever the TARDIS does. Because the life of the TARDIS was now transferred into the body of the young woman they see before them.

Blue dress, quite appropriate though not the right shade. Shame.

The Doctor was... actually he was just there a minute ago. They must have lost track on him. Ran off. Anyway for once he's not important right now.

Amy felt like she should say something. The Doctor had always sort of hinted that the TARDIS was alive. But Amy thought it was just the natural sentimentally one gets for their mode of transport.

Unusually Rory spoke first this time.

"So... if you're the TARDIS... which is really odd by the way, do you see everything going on inside you- I mean inside here? You? Uh..."

The TARDIS (now known as Idris, the name of woman she now inhabits) was broken away from her chain of thought suddenly.

"Oh! Yes. Quite."

Rory's eyebrows shot up.

"Everything?"

"Not on purpose."

Rory took a quick glance at Amy. That adds a tone of creepiness to it all.

"I saw you two make The Curly Woman."

Amy's eyes widened. Make? Wait, Amy isn't preg- Curly Woman?

"What?"

"Oh, right, you two don't know about that yet."

Idris wasn't good with words. Names. There's a woman the Doctor is getting fond of, The Curly Woman. He flirts. She uses guns. She knows things that the Doctor doesn't. But for the life of her Idris cannot place a name to her. She just notices behaviour and appearance. Water...

"Sorry, I get distracted. So much to think about now! I love this talking thing!"

"And the moving thing too!" She continued, wiggling her fingers in front of her.

Idris then looked at Amy mournfully and reached out to touch some of her hair. Amy pulled back, startled.

"There was another orangey one."

This made Amy recall the Dreamlords words "Loves a redhead, our Doctor."

"The Doctor had another red-headed companion?"

"She was loud." Idris saw flashes of memories in her head.

"Loud. Orange. Noble. Space man, earth girl. The DoctorDonna!"

Amy and Rory had no idea what this meant. Amy felt a slight pang of jealousy that the Doctor had travelled with other women but brushed it off. She was married now. To a man who she loves more than anything.

Rory was slightly taken back because Idris was saying this very rapidly like her mind was suddenly flooded. Amy was curious.

"Tell us more. Has the Doctor travelled with other people?"

"He has had many companions."

Oh and Idris adored them all so dearly. They made her Doctor so happy. But then so sad. Some were lost, some given back and some just forgot.

"So many."

There was one that came to mind that Idris did not like so much in the end.

"There was one man. People called him handsome but he became a thing."

"A thing?"

"He died then he didn't and became a thing."

Idris shot Rory a quick glance that didn't make him feel safe at all.

"He defied space, time, life and death. He was not natural. Even the Doctor could barely stand to look at him."

That sounded serious. Well it was. He was like the Curly Woman, come to think of it. Both flirt, both use guns, both are things they are not supposed to be.

"Who else?"

Amy and Rory both leaned in to listen intently. There were all on the floor grating in a circle now. It was story time.

"Hmm. There was the Dark Girl. She loved my Doctor."

"Dark as in evil?" Rory asked in that simple Rory way.

"Her skin..."

"Oh!" Amy and Rory said in unison.

"She was so devoted. Smart for a human. Bit too logical, thought I was just a machine." She said with a chuckle.

"She wandered the Earth in the Year That Never Was. She was brave."

The things that can happen with the Doctor. Amy and Rory are nowhere near prepared. Then again no one ever is.

"They're all brave."

Rory smiled. "Hope we can live up to the standard!" He said jokingly.

Idris grinned, giving Rory a pat on the knee and nodded.

Oh the things you'll do, Pretty One. The things you've done. She said this in her mind. She didn't want to overwhelm him or the Orangey Girl.

"Tell us more." Amy insisted. Idris liked her. She was sweet, adventurous and made the Doctor his best.

The Doctor...

Idris looked around, uneasy. Something wasn't right. Where was the Doctor?

Idris didn't like not knowing what was happening within her.

No, no, she was sure he was okay. He's just exploring or doing some tech.

"Right. So. Who else?" Then she was overwhelmed with sadness.

That one girl. The Doctor's Precious Flower. The Bad Wolf.

"Rose Tyler."

Yes, Idris knew her name.

"She looked into my heart. We were one. She was so special."

Tears now, tears streaming down her face.

Idris- no for this bit I will call her the TADRIS. The TARDIS had looked into Rose's heart as well. Before that day, Rose didn't know she loved the Doctor.

The TARDIS helped her see that. Spoke threw her as well as with her.

"I want to keep you safe. My Doctor." They had said that day.

Dual voices. The TARDIS's words. Rose's passion.

Both of their love.

Okay, now I'll call her Idris again.

"What happened to her?" Amy asked weakly. They could both see Idris was distraught.

"Lost. Into another world with the other."

"Other?"

"Other Doctor."

Idris didn't want to explain that. She didn't like it.

"My Doctor... was so hurt! Still so... hurt." Idris couldn't stop crying.

Amy reached over to wipe her tears away.

"This... Rose Tyler must've meant a lot to him."

"You mean a lot to him too, Orangey Girl."

Amy smiled.

"Obviously not like that."

Rory could try frowning but it wouldn't do any good.

He's won anyway.

"If you don't want to speak any more that's okay." Amy wanted to hear more but didn't want to push Idris.

Idris recalled a woman who was with the Doctor a few of himselfs.

She was young at the start and had spent the rest of her lifetime loving the Doctor. The Doctor tried to take her home but they kept meeting.

The Woman with the Metal Dog.

Gone now. Maybe it was best if she didn't mention her.

"There are more. But I must stop."

Idris stood up quickly which prompted Amy and Rory to, too.

"I grow so fond of them all. Observing them. They keep the Doctor entertained and stop him from going rusty!"

Idris turned to them, the latest companions.

"I love you both. The Doctor always picks the best friends!" She squealed.

But then Idris felt a drop in her newly acquired heart.

"He almost always."

Her smile went away.

She knew where the Doctor was now.

She couldn't feel it before...

"My Doctor... No..."

"What's wrong?" Amy asked.

Idris gripped onto the console that was once hers and started to breathe very heavily. This couldn't be possible.

He was back.

"The Doctor keeps saying he'll never return but he always comes back!"

Rory went over to Idris to help her stand.

"Who?"

"He always returns. The Doctor always lets him back."

"Who?" Amy asked it that time.

"He's escaped. From the fire, from our home, from the planet burning so far yet so close!"

Sure this may mean something to us but to Amy and Rory it was cryptic and weird.

Idris could feel it. Feel him through the air. He had her Doctor.

Now it was time to run.

And they did. Idris bolted down the corridors as fast as she could with Amy and Rory following behind trying to keep up with her.

She wasn't going to let that man get away with it like the Doctor has so many times.

Idris knew exactly where they were now.

"I'll find him! I'LL KILL HIM!" she said as she ran.

Corridor threw corridor threw corridor.

Please don't be too late, please don't be too late.

Idris made a dead stop in front of a door.

"I know this room. It's his."

It was unlocked, stupidly enough.

The three of them rushed in. The sight before them being the Doctor tied to a chair with ropes and gagged with duct tape.

Behind him, dressed in a ratty hoodie and dirty pants, hair electric white and face unshaven was someone who Idris thought was long perished.

Everyone keeps making that mistake.

"The Doctor's Friend-Enemy."

Rory spoke up, breathless from running. "I'm sorry, who are you exactly?"

The man grinned, a devilish grin.

"I am the Master."

Idris growled. "You are the master of nothing, Friend-Enemy!"

The Master tutted, looking down at his captive.

"Doctor, you should teach your... girls how to behave!"

"He is mine."

The Master raised his eyebrows in an "Oh, really?" expression.

"Oh! And who are you then?"

At that, Idris channelled her energy making her eyes and hands glow that unique gold that was her own brand of Timelord energy.

"I'm the TARDIS."

The Master was a bit taken back at that. This was new. How interesting.

She stopped the glowing. Her point was made.

"His TARDIS?"

"He calls me Sexy."

The Doctor made a groan of embarrassment threw the duct tape.

The Master didn't really agree with that but nevertheless, a TARDIS in humanoid form. Remarkable.

He sauntered over to her with a very interested look on his face.

The Master was a Timelord after all. This was in his instinct.

"Huh. That's so like the Doctor to turn his TARDIS into a..."

He looked her up and down with distaste.

"...woman."

Rory raised his hand.

"I'm a bit confused."

"Not exactly the pick of the litter, this one."

The Master took Idris by the arm and pulled her over to the Doctor.

"Ever mind your apes-"

"Hey! Watch it, we are not apes!" Amy yelled pointing her finger at the Master.

The Doctor shook his head.

"Who do think you are, Shorty?"

That really wasn't the smartest insult, Amy.

"I am the Master!"

"Oh, I'm the Master!" she said in a mocking tone.

"You look like a bloody chav!"

Rory nodded. "Yeah... yeah! You look like a dirty... blonde...hobo!"

Rory that was a serious fail.

The Master rolled his eyes, thinking this was all very pathetic.

He turned back to find Idris trying to untie the Doctor.

"Stop that!" He said before smacking Idris to the ground.

"You hit her!"

Rory thought he could take him. He doesn't look like a big deal.

So he jumped on his back and started hitting him repeatedly in the head.

Amy couldn't just stand there so while Rory was grappling with the Master she quickly punched him in the stomach.

"Get off me, you ape!"

Now you might think Amy and Rory vs. the Master, It's two to one and they're bigger than him. They'd probably win, right?

Well, don't judge a book by its cover, blah blah cliché cliché.

Because there is a fact about the Master now that will really surprise them.

Not us.

"I swear to the threads of time that I will kill them, Doctor!"

The Doctor shook his head over and over, pleading with his eyes for him not to do it.

The Master, completely fed up now, swivelled his body thus throwing Rory off his back and onto the floor. He pushed Amy away as hard as he could with one hand as the other was starting to electrify with blue Artron energy.

The Master aimed at Rory and shot the electro-bolt right into his chest.

Rory was dead.

Did I happen to mention this story is set on a Saturday?

"RORY!" Amy screamed at the top of her lungs.

The Master threw his head back and cackled.

He would've laughed longer but Amy rugby tackled him.

He went down with an "oof!"

Amy was pissed. She straddled his stomach and began to bludgeon him with her fists.

"YOU" punch "KILLED" punch "RORY!"

The Master was a lot stronger than her, though. Once she tired herself out with punching he pushed her off him, knocking her into the wall.

"I don't have time for your apes, Doctor!"

Idris on the floor was recovering from her earlier hit. The body she was in was slowly dying anyway so some psychical abuse from a super-strong Timelord really didn't help.

Amy's knock into the wall had winded her and caused her to pass out.

"This is just mindless, Friend-Enemy!" Idris called out still huddled on the ground nursing her black eye.

"Even with a plan you never have a chance against the Doctor, do you think making it up as you go along will help your chances?" She said in a mocking tone.

Ever since Lucy Saxon had messed up the Master's resurrection, he had just been a violent feral hobo eating and killing his way threw the wastelands of London.

He had no motive anymore. Turning every human into himself on Christmas was just some fun, really. A way to recover his heavily wounded pride. It was just chance that the Naismith's let him use that machine.

Escaping the Time Locked Gallifrey was an accident too.

"So, Friend-Enemy, you got aboard. It won't fly anymore but you have this ship anyway. Good on you!" she was being sarcastic, obviously.

Hurt the Master's pride, oldest trick in the book.

"You have the Doctor! You have me! What are you doing to now?"

The Doctor had his head hung low. He'd been like that since Rory was shot.

The Master cocked an eyebrow.

"I'll kill him."

Idris stood up and cornered the Master.

"Without him you are nothing!"

The Master let out a breath in disbelief.

"You know I'm right. As much as I hate to admit it, you need each other. You two made an unbreakable bond."

The Master glanced at the Doctor scornfully.

"This is why TARDIS's shouldn't be made into people. They know too much."

"There are some things I wish I didn't know, Friend-Enemy."

"Ohh, so tell me... Sexy" he spat the word out hatefully "if you hate me so much, why did you let me regenerate"

He brushed his thumb over her black eye, affectionately.

"all those years ago?"

Idris's voice went very small. "I want him happy. It's all I want."

She turned her head to look at the Doctor who was the picture of grief. It didn't look like he was paying attention to what they were saying but he heard every word.

"My Thief."

The Master pulled her face to his and clenched her throat tightly, cutting off her air.

The Doctor's head shot up and he rocking his chair back and forth, pleading threw his gag for him to stop.

"I told him not to steal you." He growled out.

He was uncomfortably close to her face and breathing heavily in a fit of rage.

"He was mine long before you."

The Master's eyes were going ever so slightly wet much against his wishes.

"I had passed my test. I had my own TARDIS and we were going to escape together. Then there was you! You had to leave your door unlocked! He took off without me. Without a thought! He ran off to Earth and got that girl pregnant and left me all alone on Gallifrey with nothing but the drums!"

Idris was close to death, her vision sparking, her face turning red.

"When he came back, it was too late... he had a family. I was in prison."

The Doctor was screaming now, tears streaming down his face.

"You. Ruined. EVERYTHING!"

The Master dug his nails into Idris's throat with great force.

She started whimpering. She couldn't speak but she was trying to.

"K... k..."

The Master relented.

"What's that, my dear?" he cooed.

"K... Ko..."

The Master loosened his grip and turned his ear to her slightly.

"Hmm?"

Her breathing was laboured but she did manage to harsh out one word.

"Koschei..."

The Master abruptly released his grip on her neck, letting her drop to the ground coughing.

His eyes were wide in shock. Nobody had called him that in almost a millennia.

The Master rushed over to the Doctor and tore off the duct tape covering his mouth. He immediately looked over to Idris struggling on the floor.

"Are you okay? Tell me!"

Idris passed her hand over her neck and felt deep nail marks.

"I'm... I'm fine."

The Master grabbed the Doctor by the hair. He wanted his attention.

"Who am I?"

"What?"

"SAY MY NAME!"

"Master!"

The Master nodded hard.

"Tell your wrench I am not Koschei!"

"I can't."

'Why not?"

"Because you are also Koschei..."

The Master was a renegade Timelord. Renegade Timelords leave their old names behind and take on a new one. His people rejected him so how dare the Doctor and that woman tell him who he was.

How would the Doctor like it if the Master went around blabbing his name to his all his pathetic idiot companions?

"Master, let me help you."

"Don't you get tired of saying that?"

Idris shook her head.

"You can't help the Friend-Enemy, Doctor."

Idris reached forward and took the Master's hand and brought him on his knees in front of her on the floor.

"But I can."

She brought both of her hands to the side of his face.

He made an attempt to pull back but she gently shushed him.

"What are you doing?"

"You are broken. The others broke you."

"The drums... they hurt..."

"A beat of four..."

The Master held onto her arms as Idris entered his mind.

She began to glow again, the gold fog streaming from her fingers and into The Master's temples.

His mouth gaped open from the pain of her rearranging his thought process.

The Doctor called out to her.

"You can't just change him!"

Idris and the Master had become one now. The Doctor couldn't stop this.

"I'm fixing him." They said in unison.

There were streams of gold pulsing out of her eyes, her hands and her mouth.

It became a cloud that half enveloped them.

The Doctor could still see them threw it.

Suddenly Idris took the Master's mouth with hers in a deep kiss, channelling wave after wave of gold energy into his body, healing it. All the while sending the same energy into his mind, healing that.

"Master!" the Doctor called out.

Now the Master's hands, eyes and mouth were glowing too.

Not the rainbow it'd be if he were regenerating, thank heavens, but the classic gold that only comes from being connected to the Doctor's TARDIS.

This all created a lot of noise that woke Amy up. She had a concussion.

"Whuh... Doctor?"

She saw the golden display before her. Then she saw Rory's dead body only a few feet away from her. Amy crawled over to the body, clutched his face and began weeping.

"Amy! Are you alright!" the Doctor asked. She didn't reply.

All of a sudden the bond between Idris and the Master was broken.

She pulled away from him, ending their kiss.

The glow around them began to dim, except for the one in Idris's eyes and mouth. The Master gasped for breath.

He looked down at his hands. He tried charging them again to make them blue.

"I can't..."

"You're body was damaged, the high energy beams were a result of that."

"Your Artron flow has been stabilised, it would seem." The Doctor continued.

The Master blinked several times. Everything was quiet in his head.

"The drums. They're gone."

The Master started laughing, not manically but in genuine happiness.

"They're gone!"

He got up and started jumping around in excitement.

"All my life they were there and now! Now!"

He ran over to the Doctor and quickly untied him.

"I can't believe it!" The Doctor blurted out, starting to grin as stood up.

Before the Doctor could take in all this the Master took him and Idris in his arms and hugged them.

This was so different. The Master no longer had that look of evil and hatred in his eyes. Now there was warmth and friendliness. And he was hugging two people because he was grateful not because he wanted something.

Idris left the group hug and left the boys to it. She was still glowing.

The Doctor held his old friend close. The Master was like he was before he looked into the untempered schism. Well maybe a little different.

But he was his Koschei again.

"I thought... that you could never..."

"Then how come you always offered to help?"

"I wanted you to travel with me. I thought maybe you could change."

They broke the hug now.

"What? Me be another one of your companions?"

"An equal."

They both exchanged warm smiles before Amy called out to them.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor felt a pang of dread in both his hearts. Rory...

They both rushed over to them and huddled around Rory's body. Idris was already leaned over him, her eyes and mouth still alight.

"Save him! Doctor, save him!"

"He's been dead for a while, Amy..."

The Master pointed at Idris.

"Why are you still...?"

"I still have enough. Fixing you made the energy so strong. But once it goes out..." she looked forlorned

"He is dead!" The Doctor exclaimed. "You can't-"

"I can save him! I can use what's left. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you, Koschei."

"You'll die."

"No... my Doctor... I will go home."

There wasn't much time. Idris had one chance. She leant over the wound in Rory's chest and breathed into it, the regenerative particles rapidly making the burn wound smaller and smaller.

But that was only half the job.

He had to live.

Idris gripped his sides and leant over his face, forcing as much power into him as she could. The Doctor knew that if she put too much in there wouldn't be enough to make the TARDIS live again.

Amy rocked back and forth chanting "Please, please please..."

Rory's eyes suddenly snapped open and he sucked in a big breath of air.

Idris pulled back and collapsed backwards, returning to her normal state.

The Doctor lifted Idris up and held her.

"Its okay, it's okay, you did it."

"Pretty One?" her voice was weak.

The Doctor lifted her head up so she could see Rory, Amy and the Master.

"Look, see? He's fine. They're all fine. Oh, you good girl! I said she was dependable! My TARDIS." he praised threw tears.

"Everything's going to be okay now."

"You're happy?"

He caressed the side of her face.

"So happy!"

"There's something I've wanted to say."

"No, no, don't..."

"Something at the end."

"Goodbye."

"No, not goodbye, I just wanted to say..."

The TARDIS spirit was leaving the body of Idris, her skin getting paler.

"Hello, Doctor. It has been my honour to meet you."

And at that with the faintest whisper of "I love you" she broke free of the Idris shell and cascaded back into the walls in array of living light.

Idris's body disintegrated into dust.

All the light had restored to normal and the faint thrumming had returned.

Minutes passed before anybody spoke.

"Isn't that the man who killed Rory?"

The Doctor wiped his face and regained his composure.

"What? Oh, he's better now!"

Amy and Rory glared at him.

"No, I mean, not just Rory."

The Doctor pointed over to the Master who gave Amy and Rory a meek wave.

"He's better now. The TARDIS fixed him while you two were... asleep."

"I was dead!"

"You should be used to it by now."

Amy butted in quickly before Rory could respond to that.

"Yeah, but who are you?"

"I'm the Master. I said that. I'm an old friend of the Doctors."

"Old friend?"

"Timelord. So yeah, very old friend."

Amy really had to get used to Timelords being vague.

Considering the TARDIS had rearranged itself Amy and Rory had no idea where they were so the Doctor guided them, along with the Master back to the console room.

"Ah, home sweet home! All back to normal!"

"Yeah, normal." Rory deadpanned while inspecting the hole in his shirt.

Amy went over to the Doctor and whispered to him.

"Is that Master guy going to be staying with us?"

The Doctor looked over at the fellow Timelord who was currently pressing buttons and turning dials on the console to get the thing started.

"Most certainly. Now! Amy, if you would please escort dear Pretty Rory to the medical bay, he may still need some attention." He suggested, ushering Amy towards Rory gently.

"Alright, alright! I'll leave you two alone!"

Amy left taking Rory with her, thinking to herself: One Timelord is tough enough to handle, what are things going to be like with two?

The Doctor swirled back to the Master.

"My TARDIS, I drive!"

"I'm a better driver than you. You failed your test."

"I know where we're going!"

"Where?"

"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise."

"I thought you said "equals"!" The Master said arms crossed with a big grin on his face.

"Don't you have some blonde to get out of your hair?"

The Master huffed, admitting defeat.

"Fine, you drive. I thought you liked blondes."

"Don't. Go to the wardrobe too, that hoodie is filthy."

"Okay, okay, I'm going."

The Master was just about to go down one of the corridors when the Doctor called out to him.

"AND TAKE A BATH!"

The Master stopped in his tracks, sniffed his hoodie and turned around to lean in the doorway for a moment.

The Doctor noticed his look of worry.

"You don't smell that bad."

"Heh, no, It's just..."

"What?"

"You're not going to leave me behind one day, Theta?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"Never, Koschei. Never again."

Fin.


End file.
